US Takes Venezuelan Businessman Álvaro Pulido Vargas Into Custody

A Colombian businessman accused of participating in major corruption schemes tied to Venezuela's government has entered US custody after years of facing federal charges. Álvaro Pulido Vargas, a business associate of Alex Saab, is accused of money laundering and bribery involving billions of dollars, according to US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who announced the development on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Federal authorities have not explained how or when Pulido was transferred from Venezuela to the United States. The Associated Press reported that his initial court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday in Miami. The investigation involved the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations, according to US officials.

Blanche said Pulido faces two separate federal cases filed in 2019 and 2021. The allegations concern schemes involving bribery and money laundering linked to the government of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

"His alleged actions show a blatant disregard for the Venezuelan people by corrupting government programs intended to provide essential food, medicine, and housing for his personal enrichment and by exploiting the US financial system to do so," Blanche wrote on social media.

The attorney general also emphasized the government's commitment to pursuing suspects across borders. His statement followed years of US efforts to bring Pulido before an American court.

"No amount of time or distance will stop" the Justice Department "from working with our federal forces and international partners to pursue these criminals and bring them to justice," Blanche said.

According to prosecutors, Pulido and Saab allegedly used a network of shell companies in offshore jurisdictions to channel bribes to senior Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative government contracts. The contracts reportedly exceeded $2 billion and involved imports of food, medicine, and affordable housing during a period of widespread hardship in Venezuela.

The alleged schemes included contracts for prefabricated homes and food distribution through the government's CLAP assistance program. The program provided food packages to Venezuelan households amid shortages, while investigators alleged that corruption diverted public funds for private and political benefit.

US authorities had offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to Pulido's arrest, according to the Associated Press and Telemundo. Officials have not said whether anyone will receive the reward following his detention.

Pulido, 62, had been held at Venezuela's Rodeo 1 prison since April 2023. He was arrested during a wider corruption investigation involving Petróleos de Venezuela, the state-owned oil company known as PDVSA. The inquiry implicated dozens of people, and Pulido pleaded not guilty in a related Venezuelan proceeding in June, according to Deutsche Welle.

The Venezuelan case also involved former oil minister Tareck El Aissami. Delcy Rodríguez, who later became Venezuela's interim president, had led an anti-corruption campaign at PDVSA while serving as Maduro's vice president.

US prosecutors have also cited Pulido's criminal history. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said he was also known as Germán Enrique Rubio Salas and had a narcotics-trafficking record that included a 1997 conviction in Italy under that alias.

Pulido's detention comes amid broader US efforts to prosecute figures associated with Maduro's government. Venezuelan authorities had not publicly commented on his transfer to US custody in the reports published Sunday.

Saab, Pulido's Colombian business associate, was sent to the United States by Venezuela's interim government in May 2026. According to the Associated Press, Saab pleaded guilty in September in a related case, agreed to cooperate with US prosecutors against Maduro and others, and agreed to surrender $195 million in proceeds linked to the alleged corruption scheme.

Saab had previously been held in the United States in 2021 on money laundering and corruption charges. The Maduro government negotiated his release in 2023 and appointed him minister of industry the following year, according to Deutsche Welle.

The circumstances surrounding Pulido's arrival in the United States remain unclear. Venezuela and the United States do not have an extradition agreement, although the two governments arranged Saab's transfer earlier in 2026.